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Vol. 24, No. 2 • February, 2006
You can find this newsletter and some past newsletters on the web @ Freeman-Spicer.com
BIZ Majors Get an F for Honesty
Suddenly the business scandals of the past few years make a lot more sense. Research by the Center for Academic Integrity, a think tank affiliated with the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, shows that undergraduate business students do more cheating than just about anyone else. The survey of nearly 50,000 students at 69 schools found that 26% of business majors admitted to serious cheating on exams, and 54% admitted to cheating on written assignments, which includes plagiarism and poaching a friend’s homework. Bad as that is, business students didn’t rank as the worst cheaters. That distinction belonged (ahem) to journalism majors, 27% of whom said they cribbed answers. The most honest group? Those in the sciences, where 19% reported cheating on tests. The results come from surveys conducted over the past three years by Donald McCabe, a management professor at Rutgers Business School and founder of CAI. McCabe says cheating has increased since he began doing surveys 15 years ago. He partly blames technology for making cheating easier. Papers can be downloaded off the Internet, and answers text-messaged to friends. But he adds that a “disturbing” number of students use recent corporate and political scandals to justify their behavior. (Helen Oh in BusinessWeek)
Discount Customers
Discount customers come and go. And the hidden costs of acquiring and serving them as clients probably exceeded what they paid you. Discount customers refer no one to you; they don’t stay long enough to form an impression - and they are not very good judges of quality anyway. They are not your business. Most likely, they are a cost that you do not need and should not incur. The discount customer is not buying you, or the quality of your work, or her regard for you and your service. She is buying your price tag, She is not loyal to people and companies; she is loyal to price tags, you cannot build a lasting business on discount shoppers, you don’t want or need such customer. Avoid the discount buyer. (The Invisible Touch)
#2 Pencil
What exactly is a #2 pencil - and why isn’t there a #1? Actually, there are #1 pencils, and #3 and #4. A #2 is the second darkest of the 4 major grades. There is a trade-off between hardness and darkness, and the #2 is the best compromise for most purposes. A #1 has the softest and darkest lead, but most people find it smudges too easily and needs resharpening too often, But that’s only one grading system. More popular is the HB system where B stands for “black” and H for “hard”. For instance, 8H is harder than 7H and an HB corresponds to a #2. By the way, that isn’t actually lead in a pencil - it’s graphite. (The Straight Dope)
The Hitch in “No Hassle” .................The Claim: On those ubiquitous TV ads, David Spade says no to customers’ every request to cash in credit-card miles for airline tickets. That’s isn’t supposed to happen with Capital One’s No Hassle Miles Rewards card, which promises, “No blackout dates. Any airline. Anytime.” The Check: We used our jeweler’s loupe on the fine print. Unlike many bank-issued airline-mileage cards, Capital One doesn’t make you book tickets at least 14 to 21 days in advance and lets you book on any carrier. But there is a hitch. While most airline cards charge 25,000 points for a free, round-trip domestic ticket, the No Hassle card charges a number equal to the cheapest ticket you can find multiplied by 90. The Bottom Line: No Hassle should be called Occasional Hassle. With cheap flights, you save points: For a $200 ticket, you’re docked only 18,000 points. But with pricey flights, you lose. If your ticket costs $500, you’ll forfeit 45,000 points. That’s 20,000 more than with those cards that supposedly say no. (Consumer Reports)
Relationships Gone Wrong ................... One day a father gets out of work and on his way home he remembers that it’s his daughter’s birthday. He pulls over to a toy store and asks the salesperson, “How much is the Barbie in the display window?” The salesperson answers, “Which one? We have: Beach Barbie for $19.95, Shopping Barbie for $19.95, Disco Barbie for $19.95 and Divorced Barbie for $265.95.” The amazed father asks: “What? Why is the Divorced Barbie $265.95 and the others only $19.95?” The salesperson annoyingly answers: “Sir . . . . Divorced Barbie comes with Ken’s Car, Ken’s House, Ken’s Boat, Ken’s Furniture, Ken’s Computer and - One of Ken’s Friends. (Anderson)
Catch’em Where You Can ........... As growing numbers of people skip TV and radio commercials, ads continue migrating to unexpected places: Subway Turnstiles - Monster Media and Viacom Outdoor have dressed nearly 400 turnstiles in the Chicago transit system with their “AdSleeves” for Geico. Parking Lot Stripes - Greg Gorman’s new venture, Parking Stripe, makes vinyl ads to install over parking lot lines. Home Depot and others have signed on. Water Coolers - CBS has used AquaCell water-cooler “billboards” to promote shows such as Out of Practice and Courting Alex. Airline Tray Tables - Scandinavian Airlines rents out the backs of it’s aircraft tray tables in business and economy sections. Gas Pumps - Dresser Wayne’s Ovation iX pump broadcasts video commercials on a built-in screen and offers printable coupons. (BusinessWeek)
Perfect Husband.......................... Several men are in a locker room of a golf club. A cell phone on a bench rings and a man engages the hands free speaker-function and begins to talk. Everyone else in the room stops to listen: Man - “Hello” Women - “Honey, it’s me. Are you at the club?” Man - “Yes” Woman - “I am at the mall now and found this beautiful leather coat. It’s only $1,000. Is it OK if I buy it?” Man - “Sure, go ahead if you like it that much.” Woman - “I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the new 2006 models. I saw one I really liked.” Man - “How much?” Woman - “$60,000" Man - “Ok, but for that price I want it with all the options.” Woman - “Great, Oh, and one more thing . . . The house we wanted last year is back on the market. They’re asking $950,000.” Man - “Well, then go ahead and give them an offer, but just offer $900,000.” Woman - “Ok. I’ll see you later! I love you!” Man - “Bye, I love you, too.” The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are looking at him in astonishment. The he asks: “Anyone know who this phone belongs to?” (LaFree)
Longevity - Married men live longer than single men do, but married men are a lot more willing to die.
Cold Comfort - You Try To Type Wearing Mittens .......................... Skyrocketing costs have many corporations scrambling to turn down thermostats, and a few are even installing solar panels. But as energy misers, companies can’t hold a candle to educators. Pittsburgh Public Schools is considering charging employees $25 to $50 annually for every space heater or coffee pot they plug in. The idea emerged from the district’s energy labor-management committee, which was formed in September and charged with finding ways to cut costs. Meanwhile, staff at Minnesota’s Saint Paul Public Schools received letters in November asking employees to voluntarily pay a $25 “reimbursement fee” for the energy consumed by their personal appliances. Over the Christmas holiday, North Carolina State University housekeeper Evelyn Hill had to resort to wearing three shirts and a pair of gloves to clean campus buildings. The temperature had been lowered to about 55∘F in a cost-saving move. Most professors and students were gone, but administrators and facilities staff were left to toil in the cold. “They think it’s O.K. to affect our livelihood to save a few bucks; I find something wrong with that,” says Hill. Despite a petition signed by 150 people, the school stuck with its plan; administrators say their natural gas bill rose 55% last year. The belt-tightening may have other costs, though. A 2004 productivity study by Cornell University found that when office temperatures were lowered nine degrees, to 68∘F, typing errors rose 74%, and output dropped 46%. (Megan Tucker in BusinessWeek)
The Quote............ “Think about how stupid the average person is, then realize that half the population is stupider.” George Carlin
New Search Engine For Phone Numbers ....................... Go to Argali.com and download their software. When you need a phone number - this software searches all sorts of phone books, etc. Not just one - but many.
Underwear is Important........................ Always wear clean underwear in public, especially when working under your vehicle. From the Northwest Florida Daily News comes this story of a Crestview couple who drove their car to Wal-Mart, only to have their car break down in the parking lot. The man told his wife to carry on with the shopping while he fixed the car in the lot. The wife returned later to see a small group of people near the car. On closer inspection, she saw a pair of male legs protruding from under the chassis. Although the man was in shorts, his lack of underpants turned private parts into glaringly public ones. Unable to stand the embarrassment, she dutifully stepped forward, quickly put her hand UP his shorts, and tucked everything back into place. On regaining her feet, she looked across the hood and found herself staring at her husband who was standing idly by. The mechanic, however, had to have three stitches in his forehead. (LaFree)
Women’s Sports............ What sport should your daughter pursue to increase her chances of a college scholarship? Crew. There are 1,980 crew scholarships for women but the number of applicants is limited - only 2,400 girls in the country are registered with high school crew teams (83% odds). Other sports with decent odds are gymnastics (1 in 24), golf (1 in 36), and track (1 in 50). Keep in mind that for equivalency sports, individual scholarships
may be divided into partial rides. Head-count sports like basketball Sincerely,
(1 in 60) or volleyball (1 in 51) provide full rides. Overall, 1 in every
150 female athletes receives a sports scholarship. (Best Life) Edward C. Levy
President